Danish/Swiss minute repeating lever pocket watch Circa 1890

Gold open faced by Jules Jürgensen
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A Danish/Swiss 18 carat pink gold minute repeating keyless pocket watch with Jurgensen’s patented bow hand-setting mechanism, circa 1890. A polished case, the back cover with engraved foliate monogram, Jules Jurgensen, hand setting device using the folding bow, patented on 15 January 1867. Hinged gold cuvette with engine-turned border, glazed gold-rimmed cover over the movement. White enamel dial with Arabic numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds and black spade hands. Nickel-plated movement, 31 jewels, wolf’s tooth winding, calibrated straight-line lever escapement, upper pivots of escape wheel and lever fork with gold-jewel chatons, cut bimetallic compensation balance with gold timing screws, blued steel Breguet balance spring with terminal curve, index regulator, repeating on gongs activated by a slide in the band.
Dial, cuvette and movement signed.
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Diameter: 53 mm
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Signed: Jules Jürgensen Copenhagen
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Accompanied by a fitted rosewood box
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Jules Frédéric Jürgensen was born in 1808 and died in 1877. He was the son of Urban Jürgensen and a very eminent watchmaker himself. Jules was born in Le Locle, Switzerland but as a child moved to Denmark with his parents. In 1830, after his father’s death, the company was taken over by Jules and his brother Louis Urban. In 1833, Jules returned to Le Locle and built up a successful business. Jürgensen, who was watchmaker to the King of Denmark, was made a Knight of the Légion d’Honneur and Knight of the Royal Order of Dannebrog. Between 1870 and 1876 he was a member of the commission of surveillance of the Geneva School of Horology, along with Ekegren, Potter and others. He further was a member of many commissions in Switzerland judging horological contests. He stamped most of his watches on the pillar plate under the dial ‘Jules Jürgensen of Copenhagen’.
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Jürgensen invented his bow-setting mechanism in 1867. He wanted to prevent any accidental changing of the watch setting. In his design, the cover had to be opened to turn the bow far enough to engage the setting pin. In some of his watches, he did not want the back cover, which was not spring-loaded, to be opened by the owner. Therefore, for his watches with an open face, he used a special case in which the front was designed with a bezel utilizing a lifting mechanism like that in a hunting case. The setting could be done safely, by first opening the front by pushing on the stem, turning the bow until it touched the crystal and then setting the watch. After his death, the business was continued by his brother and in 1886 it was sold to an employee, H. Kiens, whose sons Jules (1837-1894) and Jacques Alfred (1842-1912) continued the business, as did the House of Heuer afterwards.